Happy end to budget season!
Pennsylvania lawmakers passed budget legislation for the 2024-2025 fiscal year late last week. Although almost 2 weeks past the deadline, it’s the earliest we’ve signed the budget in recent years. In fact, the last parts of our current budget were just signed in December! Our campaign work had some major wins and major losses in the almost $48 billion deal.
Let’s start with the positives. In a historic win for housing rights, we won a $2.5 million allocation to start a statewide Right to Counsel Program in Pennsylvania that will provide free legal representation to low-income tenants across the state. Endorsed Representative Izzy Smith-Wade-El worked with our Philly comrades Rick Krajewski and Liz Fielder to introduce this legislation that will keep families in their homes while saving tax dollars for our communities!
More great news is that private school vouchers failed to make the budget, much to the dismay of billionaire Jeffrey Yass. However, the budget does include an increase in two existing programs that provide tax breaks to corporations that fund scholarships for students to attend private schools.
Unfortunately, funding for the extremely popular and proven successful Whole-Home Repairs program that our movement helped shape, pass, and implement was excluded from the budget because Senate Republicans chose partisan politics over the proven needs of our communities. Every county in the Commonwealth has seen overwhelming demand for the Whole-Home Repairs Program that far exceeds what can be served with the first round of funding. By blocking funding this year, Republicans have left thousands more families vulnerable.
Here’s what some of our members had to say about the blockage of Whole-Home Repairs:
“Once again, Republicans have shown their main priority is weakening our government by sabotaging functioning programs rather than helping the people in their community. They claim to view homeownership as the bedrock of financial independence and the American Dream, yet instead, they are siding with private equity and Wall Street, who will inevitably buy up the homes of people who are forced out due to not receiving Whole-Home Repairs money. Lancaster County has said they won’t reopen the program despite a massive waitlist unless the state gets more funding. Lancaster and Pennsylvania deserve better than politicians who would rather focus on partisan politics than continuing existing successful programs.” – Otis Ubriaco of Lancaster Stands Up
“I am glad the budget included an increase in public education funding, but the homes that our children return to at the end of the day are every bit as important as the schools they attend. Families need both. The General Assembly should not be setting the needs of Pennsylvanians against each other as an excuse for refusing to meet our needs.“ – Kaylee Scruggs of NEPA Stands Up
“No matter where we come from, what our zip code is, how old we are, the color of our skin, or how much we earn, we all deserve to live in a safe and dignified home. Hundreds of thousands of people across our Commonwealth—our neighbors, our loved ones—are living in homes that are unsafe because they don’t have access to the resources they need to make critical repairs. The Whole-Home Repairs Program has brought hope to communities across the Commonwealth, but the demand far exceeds the initial $125 appropriation.” – Celine Schrier of Berks Stands Up.
We are eager to help spread the word about the new Right to Counsel Program and to continue pushing past every roadblock to ensure our communities and schools have what they need to keep Pennsylvania families safe and healthy for generations to come.
In Community,
Edwin, Mary, and Hannah